Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to implantable medical devices, and more particularly, to malleable implantable medical devices.
Related Art
Implantable medical devices have been used to provide therapeutic benefits to patients for a host of reasons. For example, implantable medical devices may provide therapeutic benefits for those patients who have experienced hearing loss by enhancing or replacing hearing stimulation which they are no longer able to experience. Hearing loss, which may be due to many different causes, is generally of two types, conductive and sensorineural. In some cases, a person may have hearing loss of both types. Conductive hearing loss occurs when the normal mechanical pathways for sound to reach the hair cells in the cochlea are impeded, for example, by damage to the ossicles. Conductive hearing loss is often addressed with conventional hearing aids which amplify sound.
Many people who are profoundly deaf, however, have sensorineural hearing loss. This type of hearing loss is due to the absence or destruction of the hair cells in the cochlea which transduce acoustic signals into nerve impulses. Those suffering from sensorineural hearing loss are thus unable to derive suitable benefit from conventional hearing aids due to the damage to or absence of the mechanism for naturally generating nerve impulses in response to sound.
It is for this purpose that another type of auditory prosthesis, a cochlear implant (also commonly referred to as cochlear prostheses, cochlear devices, cochlear implant devices, and the like; generally and collectively referred to herein as “cochlear implants”) has been developed. Stimulating auditory prostheses such as cochlear implants bypass the hair cells in the cochlea, directly delivering electrical stimulation to the auditory nerve fibers via an implanted electrode assembly. This enables the brain to perceive a hearing sensation resembling the natural hearing sensation normally delivered to the auditory nerve.
Certain implantable medical devices such as cochlear implants are positioned directly underneath the skin and/or placed into an excavated portion of the recipient's bone or tissue. Other implantable medical devices are placed directly on the bone without excavation. A portion of the implanted devices may extend away from the bone or may extend outward from the bone or excavated portion.